The Pureblood Agenda
by rvb
Summary: Harry figures out why the half-blood Tom Riddle choose to support the pureblood agenda.


"10 points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter, for sabotaging Mr. Malfoy's potion. Mr. Malfoy, you will receive full credit for todays lab. Mr Potter, you will receive yet another zero, I believe that makes 7 zeros this year. Twelve extra inches on your essay due tomorrow!"

Hermione followed Harry to the Great Hall for lunch. "Arg! The nerve of that..that..., Ugh!"

"What did I miss the greasy-git do?", Ron asked as Harry and Hermione sat down across from him.

"Oh, the usual. Blatant favoritism. Oh, and Harry has an extra foot of homework, due tomorrow. Malfoy failed to brew his potion today, and Snape, amazing detective that he is, discovered that Harry sabotaged it. You know, as bad as this is for you Harry, I wonder if it isn't worse for Malfoy. I mean, I don't think he learns a thing in potions, and I wonder how he is going pass his OWLs!"

Harry chipped in, "Hmm. I wonder if that actually explains it."

Confused, Ron asks, "Er, explains what? Hermione?"

Shrugging, "I don't know. Harry?"

"Well, you know how Dumbledore always says that he trusts Snape, and that Snape is really on our side? Well, I think that this maybe shows that he is."

"Crikey mate, I think you've finally lost it. Favoring the enemy at every step, and treating the good guys like scum means he's a good guy?"

"Honestly Ron! Not all Slytherins are the enemy, how many times do I have to tell you!" A hint of doubt crept into her voice, "A double agent? Its a bit hard to buy."

"No, no, I think it's obvious, if you think about it. Look, Malfoy's supposedly a good example of a Slytherin, right? Well, what does he do? Basically, he fails to hex you and then cries out 'Wait until my father hears about this'. He basically relies on other people who are stronger than him. I mean, why else does he have two doorstops following him around? He has very little inherent skill. Snape, by promoting this behavior, is keeping Slytherins weak. Like you said, it hurts them because they barely even learn how to brew their own potions."

"Wait, when did Malfoy senior die?" Ron asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Hermione just rolled her eyes, "And ... by giving you more homework, he's trying to teach you more, which he can't easily do in class."

"Exactly. I've actually learned quite a bit about adapting potions based on the quality of the ingredients on hand. Oh, and Ron, Malfoy senior has not passed on."

Excited, Hermione exclaimed "Passed on! That's it!"

Harry admitted to Ron, "Okay, now I'm confused."

Hermione, switching to her teaching voice, "Part of the whole war is about why purebloods are supposedly better, right? Well, what is that purebloods pass on to their children? Supposedly their genetics are better than the rest of us."

Ron started to ask what muggle clothing had to with anything, but Harry caught his eye and shook his head 'No'.

"You know I've already done the research on that: when you look at the median average of magical strength, then pureblood children are no stronger than half-bloods or muggle-born. But if you look at the outliers, then win goes to the muggle-born and half-bloods.

"And when you consider academic skill, then there is a slight tendency for purebloods to do better their first few years of school, but by the time OWLs and NEWTs come around, the scores are basically indistinguishable.

"And so I've been trying to figure out why purebloods think they are so much better then the rest of us. But maybe I've been asking the wrong question. Maybe I should have been asking: what do purebloods pass on to their children?"

Ron, happy to be able answer, spat out, along with several bits of food, "their family grimoires".

"Ron! Manners!"

"Hermione! Lunch!"

Ignoring the by-play, Harry asked, "So, you're wondering if, magically speaking, purebloods are only better due to their family libraries? Knowledge is power, and all that?"

Smiling, Hermione replied, "precisely. Actually its really quite stupid -"

"Language!" Ron exclaimed, perking up.

"- of them. Libraries can be bought, knowledge discovered. Even worse," her face draining of blood, and her voice switching to a whisper, as if event mentioning the idea might cause it to occur, "libraries can be lost, burned."

Harry had stopped listening though, and, deep in thought, repeated the word "Stupid" several times to himself. Starting slowly, "But we know that Voldemort isn't stupid. So, why ...", Harry broke off, staring deeply into his half-raised cup of pumpkin juice.

After a few seconds, Hermione tentatively prompted, "Harry?"

"Oh my God. That's.. that's ... brilliant. Now *that* is a Slytherin plan I can respect."

"Uh, Harry?" Hermione prompted, while Ron's eyes narrowed at the statement he thought was borderline heretical, as if such a statement should be punished by the strictest of measures.

Harry, excited, started to explain. "Okay, we know that Riddle is smart. Lets assume that Riddle has done the same research you have done, Hermione. He knows that muggle born and half-bloods are more likely to be as strong or stronger than him. Hmm, I'll bet that Myrtle was the only pureblood at school that was anywhere near his strength. But never mind that."

Harry took a deep breath, before continuing. "So, good ol' Tom is so scared of death, that he takes on the moniker 'Flight from Death', right?" Not waiting for confirmation, he continued. "So, naturally, he's going to want to kill anyone that can challenge him, and anyone who might eventually challenge him.

"Then he discovers the pureblood agenda. A group of people whose goals align with his own - the death of muggleborn and half-bloods. These same people who would kill Tom without a thought if they knew his true heritage. But Riddle's forked tongue is able to convince them of his purest of pureblood pedigree. In fact, he's able to become the leader of the pureblood war party.

"This gains him two important powers: first he now has access to the family libraries of all the pureblood families, and second, if he's careful, he has the power of life and death over the purebloods."

Seeing Hermione's questioning look, Harry answered the unasked question. "Think about it, once Riddles in charge, he can punish purebloods with the cruciatus curse when wants, keeping his followers weak. And any purebloods that are too strong he can send on deadly missions or kill outright as punishment for failing impossible missions. So basically, by joining the pureblood idiots, he's effectively able to keep down all groups of people that might be able to become a threat to him."

Hermione blinked. Ron muttered "bloody hell" to himself. Thirteen seconds later, Hermione blinked again.

"Harry, wow. That's, well, wow. I, uhh...," Hermione trailed off.

Ron asks, "This is interesting and all, but how does this help us beat him?"

Fin.


End file.
